She's Leaving Home
by Creepofthecentury
Summary: Bella Swan has been abused by her drunken father ever since he killed his wife. Years later, she finally runs away, stealing his money. She flies away to a place Charlie wouldn't suspect. Forks, Washington, where she's picked up by some Cullens.


_**Disclaimer: You know the drill. I own nothing. **_

_There was no school for about a week or two due to a gas leak and other issues, so recently everyone had been lounging around at home. No one wanted to be home doing nothing, but no one had a place they wanted to go. Except Alice; she wanted to go to the mall, like usual, but we had already went twice that week. The break felt like it was lasting for weeks, but it had only been three days. _

_I went into the bathroom and took a shower to wake myself up. I stared at my arms after I dressed myself. I watched as I slowly rolled down the sleeves of my shirt to my wrist, then stretching it out further. _

_I opened the door to the bathroom and stepped out, almost bumping into Tanya. I stumbled back and mumbled an apology and continued walking down the hall. I didn't get very far, though. _

" _Hey Bella, I wanted to know if you could help me unpack the rest of my stuff."_

_I turned around and asked, "you still haven't unpacked everything?" more irritable than I wanted it to sound. _

_She didn't seem to notice any harsh tone in it, she just shook her head with a nice happy face. I agreed and walked into the guest room. Everything was the same as I had left it for her, except for the unmade bed. I looked over at the roses; they still looked lovely. _

" _Those flowers you have are beautiful," she said. " Who did you say gave them to you?"_

_I turned around and smiled at her because the thought of Edward couldn't make me stay irritable for too long. " I didn't say who, but, since you're asking, Edward gave them to me."_

_Her face changed. The happy look on her quickly changed to extreme incredulity trying to be composed. " Edward Cullen_?"

" Um, well, it was because…He was just being nice, y'know? Doesn't mean anything."

I was hoping she'd drop it, and believe me. " Are you sure it means nothing?" she asked in a tone that sounded like she was testing me. " Absolutely sure?"

" I don't like him like that, Tanya, and I doubt he has ever thought of me that way. Now, let's unpack your stuff, OK?" Without an answer, I took her suitcase from the floor and opened it up. There was a bag of makeup and another of toiletries on top of a few pairs of clothes. Tanya bent down and started to stack up her clothes into piles of shirts and pants. 

" You're probably right, Bella," she said. " Edward probably doesn't think of you that way. I mean, you don't seem like his type." 

" His…Type?" 

" Yeah, he's not into Plain Jane's. I mean, no offense," she grabbed a pile of shirts and put them in a drawer, " but you're so average looking: scrawny, pale, brown haired, brown eyes. He's into girls with a certain flair to them."

I slowly straightened up as I held her folded pants in my hands, feeling more self-conscious every second. 

" Don't take it the wrong way, Bella," she said, not sounding convincing enough for me to believe that she hadn't meant for it to hurt me. " Guys probably like you, or will. Some guys can't handle the girls Edward likes."

I clutched the pile of pants in my hands so tightly that I felt like my nails might have made holes into her jeans. I didn't know what bothered me so much: the fact that I'm plain and average looking, or that she thinks I'm not even a possible interest of Edward's? I think what bothered me was that she was right. " So, you think you have a sort of panache to yourself?" I asked, rather boldly.

" Well," she mused, "I think I'm good looking. People always tell me how beautiful I am. I've never heard anyone call me…_Average_." She shuddered. She freaking shuddered at the word " average" when she said not to take her comment offensively. 

I turned around and looked her in the eye. She looked bored. " Well, I think that's enough help needed from me. I think you can do the rest." 

I turned on my heel and stomped off, throwing the pile of pants onto the bed. I went into Alice's room and threw myself on her bed and stared up at the ceiling. A minute later, one of the house phone starts to ring in Alice's room. I got up and picked up the black phone off her small white table in the corner of her room. I took in a deep breath before I answered. "Hello?"

" Bella?"

I sighed. " Hey Jacob, what's up?"

" I just wanted to know if you were busy."

" I'm not. I'm really bored, actually."

" Great! I'll pick you up in a few?"

I was taken back, but I didn't want to refuse. " S-sure, see you later."

We hung up and I sighed again. I had to leave the house. I realized then that I had wanted to leave so badly that I didn't even ask Jacob where he was planning on taking us. But I guessed it really didn't matter. I had gotten what I wanted. 

" Knock, knock."

I looked over at the door and saw Edward leaning against the wall. He wore a white T-shirt and jeans. Very casual and yet extremely attractive. I blushed. " Hi, Edward."

" Hey, mind if I stay bored with you?"

" Not at all. Sit."

He moved towards the bed and sat leaning back on the back board. " Are you busy today? Because I was thinking we could see a movie together."

" Um…I actually have plans for today. I'm leaving in a bit."

He blinked once and raised his eyebrows in surprise. " Oh? What are you doing?"

" I'm going out with Jacob in a bit." His brows dropped. He looked disappointed. "He just called and I really wanted to get out of the house. I would've gone with you if you'd come in a few minutes before."

He looked down and lifted the corner in a faint smile. " Well, you know what they say about opportunities: seize them before they're gone."

" We could-" I bit my lip. Tanya. She liked him. Could I really plan an outing with Edward? Tanya wasn't very nice-well, not to me at least-so should I have been doing her any favors? Well, Alice wanted to help her get back together with Edward, so why not make it easier? I mean, Alice liked her and Alice didn't seem like someone with bad judgment. " Why…Don't you ask Tanya to the movies?"

He sighed and rolled his head around, probably trying not to roll his eyes instead. I giggled silently. " No thanks. A little awkward, wouldn't you think?"

I shrugged one shoulder as I rested my head on my propped up hand. " Why not build a healthy relationship with her? Just because you're ex's doesn't mean you can't be friends." I wanted to kick myself, honestly. It was just masochistic of myself.

He squinted his eyes in thought and looked at the upper corners of his eyes. "I guess asking her wouldn't be _so_ bad. But I'm not sure if this movie is her style."

I raised my eyebrows amusedly. "And so you know my style now?"

He looked at me boyishly. " I think I do. I'm still trying to figure you out."

I laid back and stared up. "Pssh, there's nothing to figure out." At that moment, I heard a honking. "That's probably Jacob." I pushed myself up and off the bed. Edward got up too and followed me down. I went to the window and pulled back the curtain to make sure it was him. My eyes grew large.

Edward walked to my side. "So is it Jacob? Oh. A motorcycle?" He looked down at me. "You're not afraid of motorcycles, are you?"

I blinked my eyes. "On the contrary my friend. I've wanted to learn to ride one since I was 12." I let go of the curtain and hurried to the door. I grabbed my sweater from the coat hanger by the door and walked out. Jacob was holding his helmet in his arms as he leaned against his motorcycle. He had his leather jacket zipped all the way up, the collar standing up, and his worn out jeans with boots. He grinned at me with his usual cocky smile and spread out his arms for me. I hurried closer to him and wrapped my arms around him. 

"Hey Bells. You ready to head out?"

I stepped back and nodded my head. "Completely. Let's go." 

He put on his helmet and handed me a helmet he had behind him. I straddled the seat and wrapped my arms around Jacob's waist as he kicked up the kickstand and started the motorcycle. I looked back at the front door and saw that Edward was leaning at the doorway and watching. I waved at him goodbye as Jacob turned around and headed out onto the street.

**EPOV**

I waved back at her until she wasn't able to be seen. I stepped back inside and closed the door. I looked around the room and sighed.

Great. I had no plans. 

I walked upstairs and knocked on Alice's door. 

"Come in!" she sang. I opened the door. "Bella, is that you?"

"No, it's me." She was seated at the center of her bed, right where Bella had laid, with magazines around her. She slouched in disappointment. "Sorry to disappoint."

"Well, if you see her, tell her to come up to my room. I want her to try on some clothes."

I laughed inwardly. I knew Bella was just going to _love _that. "That won't be for a while. She just left with Jacob."

She shot her head towards me as she was going to take a snip of a picture of a model from a magazine. "She did? With Jacob?" I nodded. "Where is she going?"

I shook my head. "I don't know. She just kinda left without saying much about it."

She sighed. "Well, at least I'll have more time to work on what to dress her up in."

"I bet she's glad about that, too."

She looked at me curiously. I raised an eyebrow at her, teasingly. "What are you doing today?"

"I was hoping to watch a movie with Bella today," I said as I leaned against her wall, "but that didn't work out. So, I'm probably staying home."

"Why not ask Tanya to the movies?"

I cocked my head to the side and furrowed my brows. "Tanya? Why?"

"Well, Jasper is out hunting with Carlisle, Eleazar, Esme is with Carmen at an art gallery, Emmett and Rosalie are probably making out somewhere on the property, and I'm planning things out for Bella. You and Tanya are the only ones that have no plans."

I shook my head slightly. "I'm not sure I want to go anywhere with her."

Alice looked at me with slight annoyance. "C'mon Edward. You want to stay up in your room doing nothing, or watch a movie with an old friend?"

"If you don't recall, Alice, we weren't just 'friends'."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm well aware of that. But you guys ended on such a sour note-"

"It wasn't my fault Alice." I realized I had sounded irritable. She stared at me apologetically. I slid my hand down my face slowly. "I'll be in my room if you need me." I turned away and closed her door behind me as I made my way to my room.

When I entered my room, I grabbed a book off the shelves randomly and laid on my back on my bed in my usual reading position. Twenty pages into the book, someone knocked on my door. It opened wide and I saw Tanya standing there. She smiled shyly, which was odd because Tanya wasn't ever the shy type. 

"Hey, Edward." She stepped in my room and slowly walked towards my sofa couch. 

"Hey…Tanya. What brings you here?"

She shrugged her shoulders but she had a smile that didn't seem indifferent like her shrug. "Nothing, I just wanted to talk."

I sat up and laid my book by my side. "What about?" 

She turned to face me and grabbed her wrist behind herself. "Well, I wanted to talk about…Us, and how we ended."

I ran my fingers through my hair a couple times quickly. "What about it?"

She let go of her wrist and made little fists with her hands and sighed exasperatedly. "Edward, can you show a little more emotion? Would that kill you?"

"I don't know what you're expecting from me Tanya. You wanted to talk, so talk."

She sucked on her upper lip nervously. "I…I wanted to say I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what I did to you." She looked down at her feet like a guilty child. I looked at her blankly. She looked up from under her lashes. She looked like she wasn't satisfied with my reaction. Her head shot up and her eyes narrowed a bit. "Edward? Do you forgive me?"

I raised one eyebrow. "Forgive you for cheating on me? I already have."

That's when I saw the old Tanya. Her eyes widened with glee and she smiled. She moved towards me with her hands clasped together tightly, holding together her energy. She sighed with relief. "I'm so happy Edward. I hope we can be as close as we were before."

I shook my head. "I'm not sure about that being possible."

And with that, her face fell. "N-no? Why not?"

I looked up with a hard stare, waiting for her to understand. She didn't get it. I stood up in front of her and waited a little longer before saying, "you cheated on me. For me to trust you the way I did will take a lot more than just an apology. This, for me, just talking to you, is very awkward."

"I thought you forgave me?"

"I forgive you, but that doesn't mean I think what you did is something that I can look past or commend. I forgive you because I'm not angry anymore."

"So…You never want to be with me?" I looked away from her. With that, something changed in the way the air felt. It was something in Tanya that changed. She grabbed my hand with both of hers. I looked back at her, and noticed that she was smiling. "Oh Edward…"

I eyed her quickly. "What?"

She looked up at me with her tawny eyes. "You don't believe that we will never be together again, do you?"

"My trust won't be easily gained, Tanya."

"But I can be. There's hope for us." She stepped closer to me, still holding my hand. And could feel her heat that made me feel uncomfortable. She smiled at me and her eyes started to sparkle. I started to see the old her. "You still have feelings for me. I know you do."

I stepped away from her. Her sweet looks disappeared. 

"Don't pretend you don't Edward."

"You should leave." I stepped to the side so she could walk straight out. 

She started to walk out. I didn't watch her, but I heard stop before she left my bedroom. "I'll get you to admit it, Edward. There's a part of you that wants to be with me." And then she left. 

**GAHHH. WHOA. I updated. Well, I honestly was going to give up on this, but I decided not to. So, here is my next chapter. Don't be angry. And sorry for the pretenses and junk. I'm still no good at that. I haven't edited this at all, since I'm so eager to post it. **


End file.
